by Kevin Rau
The morning didn’t go well. I woke up perhaps three quarters of an hour after Stephanie left for the kidnapping case. I had this dream, or nightmare, where she was in pain and calling my name. It didn’t happen again, so I wrote it off as paranoia, but didn’t get much sleep after that.
I called into work sick early in the morning. Something just felt wrong to me. I showered and ate breakfast. Lance joined me by 7:00 a.m.
Lance studied me for a moment and said, “You look upset ... claws out. What’s going on?”
I answered, “Stephanie got a kidnapping call around 2 a.m. last night. I haven’t heard from her since, and I tried calling her H.E.R.O. cell phone an hour ago. No response.”
“So call her personal cell phone.”
“I did that too, it’s in her purse here.”
“Oh. Maybe she’s in the middle of something.”
“For an hour? What takes an hour? She should have been done with reading a perp’s mind by three or four in the morning. It only takes her a few minutes to do it.”
“Yeah, but she’s fallen unconscious after every time, right?”
I nodded, “Hmm ... true. But she also wakes back up in a minute or a few.”
His eyes narrowed as he thought about it, “Good point. Something’s up.”
Great, just talking about it is getting me even more riled up. I paced back and forth. My arms felt odd, and the small fin-like spikes pushed through each forearm.
Lance watched me. “Dude, it won’t help wigging out here.”
I growled, “It just pisses me off. I think she would have called me back. I didn’t mention the nightmare I had where I heard her scream. It happened only once, but maybe something happened to her.”
Lance pounded his fist on the table and said, “You heard her scream? That clinches it; we need to find out where she’s at.” The table split from the massive strength in his fist, even from a light blow to the table. One leg broke off; he barely caught the table before it fell to the floor.
He muttered, “Crap. I’m breaking everything. Car, cell phone, doors, and now the table these last few days. This is going to get expensive.” My enhanced hearing caught his muttering as though he spoke normally.
An odd thought came to me, “Hey, have you had to go to the bathroom since Saturday night?”
He said, “Of course … wait. No. I’ve taken showers. No, I haven’t had to go in what, two and a half days. Great, my super muscles are blocking me up.”
I blinked at his statement … and then I laughed so hard I doubled over. After I recovered I said, “Oh man, a case of super constipation. That’s awesome. But, no they aren’t. Stephanie and I noticed the same thing. Our bodies are consuming everything.”
He snorted, “Well, at least I won’t have to take a break from a super fight to go visit the restroom, that’s a bonus.”
I said, “It’d be a humorous sight, you in your tights at a urinal.”
He thought for a moment and said, “Huh. Well, that's one good thing against my breaking of everything.”
“At least you don’t feel like biting people any time they are right in front of you.”
“I’m with you there. I’ll try to keep an eye on you in a crowded area to keep you from doing it.”
I noticed that my arms had smoothed out again. “Thanks ... hey, nice distraction; my temporary spikes went away.”
“I noticed. I just didn’t want to draw your attention to it.”
“Okay, back to Steph. I know where she went; I put the address in my H.E.R.O. phone before she took off.”
“Did you take down any contact info on the task? I’m assuming it came through as a task just for her on her phone?”
“Right. Damn, I didn’t get that. We could head to the address.”
“Sounds good, let’s suit up and head there. Not much use hitting the gym, everything feels too light.” He couldn't hide the bitterness from his expression.
We both went to our rooms and suited up in our costumes. He came back out in his bright yellow and red costume. Unlike Steph’s revealing costume, his covered everything but his neck and head. There was a tall red diamond shape on the outside of the elbows and knee area, meeting on the inside of the leg and elbow. The boots and gloves were black, so he could wear them with normal clothing and not look out of place. A red V shape went from each shoulder down to meet at a point in the center of his chest and back. He also wore a yellow tactical belt to hold his H.E.R.O. cell phone, card and such, and he wore a pair of goggle like glasses that were red.
My costume was simpler. I wore all black, though the pants, chest and partial gloves were the same material as his. My gloves didn’t cover the fingers, since my claws grow out of my fingertips and would rip them up every time. The shirt was only a t-shirt in shape, leaving part of my biceps and lower arms bare. I had a gray and white tiger paw on the chest. I wore a black partial face mask to try and hide my identity. Kim, a nurse at Iron Cross Hospital thought it looked too dark. People wouldn’t know I was a hero on sight.
I stared at Lance for a moment. “Dude, you know that putting on those shades won’t make people not recognize you out of costume. You’re six foot eight, and make many pro wrestlers look small.”
“Well, duh. Of course they will. Even a tux or business suit wouldn’t hide my size. I’m wearing them to be cool. Plus, they keep out dust and debris. It was annoying when the building collapsed on me and dust got in my eyes.”
“Okay, just so long as you understand that. The day I see you pull off a normal shirt to reveal your costume, put on your glasses and expect everyone to see a different guy I’m going to laugh at you.”
“I would expect no less from you, Rael. What they will recognize is that there is a hero in their midst to help them.”
“Hmm. I’ll give you that one. Or maybe a clown.”
“Yeah, thanks. So, where’s the place Steph went to?”
“Down in Rikesville. About a hundred miles away.”
“Jeez. That’s going to take an hour and a half to get there.”
“Let’s get going then. How about I drive? By the way, after we’re done with this I’m going to get a cycle for my superheroing.”
“Good idea, though I prefer the jumping myself. It’s pretty cool flying over buildings.”
“Yeah, well, not so cool when I have to hang onto you.”
“I’ll agree with that. Though, if you have a cycle Steph might not want to fly you around with her.…”
“Hmm. Good point. I’d hate to deprive her of clinging to my manly body.”
Lance laughed, “Nice. I’m sure it was her clinging that you were thinking of.”
As much as I love the clinging, I doubt he realizes it’s her scent that is so awesome.
We left the house and hopped in my car. Not the most august form of travel for a pair of superheroes, but it was better than hanging onto Lance’s back for an hour and a half. He didn’t slow down on the descent, so my claws tended to pop out and cut into him.
I again received the feeling that Stephanie screamed while I drove us to Rikesville. A shiver ran down my spine, and my fingertips elongated into claws. I noticed that Lance fidgeted oddly at that moment, so I asked, “Did you just get the sense of Steph screaming?”
“I … think so. I figured I must just be worried about her.”
“I don’t believe so; I just had the same feeling. Something’s up, I don’t like it.”
“Step on it, Rael.”
“Dude, the car’s a beater. It’s only going to go just so fast.”
It made for a tense drive, thinking that your friend is in enough danger to scream. I didn’t know her range was this far, either. I thought she said she could only hear thoughts from a few dozen feet away, and links into our other senses from about fifteen feet out.
I gave Lance the address so he could pull it up on his H.E.R.O. device and handle the navigation. I didn’t want t
o touch my device too much when my claws were out, and I was too worried to get them to change back to normal. The claws were razor sharp on the tips, and hard enough to easily gouge through concrete. I feared that my smartphone wouldn’t survive a lot of scratches from them.
I noticed that Lance grimaced, and occasionally rubbed his gut and leg.
I asked, “You okay?”
He replied, “Yeah, I’m still healing from the huge fight with Kralgon. He did a lot of damage to me.”
“Wow, that was yesterday afternoon. I’m surprised you haven’t healed yet.”
“I heal a lot slower than you do, apparently.”
“Good thing it takes a lot more to hurt you, then.”
“Yeah.”
The thick clouds seemed to portend a bad day. A storm would likely hit sometime late today or tomorrow.
As I drove I asked Lance, “Any idea if our status as H.E.R.O. agents makes us local, or federal officials?”
“Federal. Didn’t you read the stuff I downloaded off their website a while back?”
I shrugged at him. “I glanced at it. I was more interested in the idea of action than rules. We’ve got the ability to step into another investigation and involve ourselves, or even take over?”
“I don’t think we could take one over, although if it involves supervillains then we have official jurisdiction. Similar to how U.S. Marshals are the prime agency for apprehending foreign fugitives, we’re the agency for supervillains. In fact, I read that originally they considered making heroes part of the U.S. Marshal Tactical Operations Division, but since we also deal so much with rescue operations they decided to keep us separate.”
“Okay, my key point is that if we show up at this kidnapping, we have enough official status to butt in, even if we aren’t taking over?”
“We can step in; they’d have to call a H.E.R.O. HQ to get us off their backs. Ideally we don’t want to butt in too much though. Remember, you catch more flies with honey than, uh, butter? Wait, what the heck else do you try to catch flies with?”
I laughed, “Nice. I think it’s vinegar, but I get the point.”
“But yeah, it happens at Score! all the time – it’s really not that hard to talk people down from fighting if you try. Better than jumping right in and getting physical, anyway.”
“Heh, I think I’d just jump in.”
“Hmm, no bouncer reference for you, Rael.”
We drove into the ritzy subdivision by mid-morning. The houses were large, the few cars visible in garages were elegant, and the lawns well cared for. The mapping software led us to the house in question. Several government vehicles were parked outside, as well as a few private vehicles.
I parked in the street. I noticed the car leaned quite a bit to Lance’s side as he got out. “Spartan, we really need to get you weighed. You’ve got to weigh a lot more than you used to.”
“Why would my weight matter?”
“If you get a motorcycle it’ll matter as far as size. Also, if others have to pick you up for some reason. Even for buying furniture.”
“Fine, fine, worry about it later.”
We walked up the drive to the front door, and I knocked. I thought it was properly imposing having my claws out. I stared at them for a moment. It was interesting that they weren’t a long fingernail, instead the fleshy end of each finger changed into this very hard (and sharp) substance. The sound of someone walking to the front door interrupted my thoughts. Heavy footsteps, it had to be a man, although nowhere near as heavy as Lance.
A guy in a suit answered the door. He looked like a Fed to me. He glanced quickly up and down at me, then at the giant behind me. His hand was still on the sidearm in the holster at his side.
He said, "I'm Agent Dunsworth of the F.B.I., can I help you with something?"
I said, "I'm Black Tiger, this is Spartan, we’re, ah, H.E.R.O. agents. We're wondering why Psystar dropped off our radar, when this was her last location." I breathed in deeply through my nose. I could smell Stephanie's scent, but she definitely wasn't here right now.
"Well, she's not here."
"I know, I'd be able to smell her if she were."
He raised an eyebrow, "She's at the hospital, last I heard."
My eyes narrowed. I heard his heart rate speed up, and could smell something. Some part of me told me it was the scent of fear. "You're concealing something, Agent Dunsworth. Which hospital is she at?"
"Mercy Hospital, it's downtown."
"We'll trust that you're telling the truth then. There shouldn't be a reason to conceal anything, right? Even if she got shot, she'd heal it in a few minutes, so I know that something's up. But hey, I'll just believe you for the moment."
I very much wanted to grab this guy and slam him against the wall, then claw the information out of him, federal officer or not. I felt Lance's hand on my shoulder. He squeezed slightly with that massive strength. It felt a lot like some kind of vice had closed on me rather than just a hand.
Lance said, "Let's go check the hospital. Good seeing you, Agent Dunsworth." He released my shoulder as he turned and headed back to the car. At least he didn't break my shoulder this time.
I glanced back one more time at Agent Dunsworth, and then followed Lance out to the car. Once I sat down I did a map search for the hospital on the H.E.R.O. device to get a route. It was annoying having to use my knuckle to tap on the display, but at least it worked.
I debated for a moment, and then tried calling Stephanie's H.E.R.O. phone again. It went immediately to voicemail. Either her phone was off, or she had it on a do-not-disturb setting. In about fifteen minutes we arrived at the hospital.
As we walked up to the lobby Lance said, "You must be pretty irate. Your claws have been out since the drive to Rikesville."
"Yeah, I could smell sweat, or fear or something on that agent. He wasn't telling the truth, but if I attack him for the info outright it'll start a big fight or something that we don't need. But he was definitely feeding us a line."
"I agree. Good job on keeping it non-hostile."
"We haven't found her yet."
"We will."
We quickly entered the hospital and approached the front desk. Lance held me back by my shoulder, stepped ahead of me and asked, "Hi. May I ask which room the superheroine named Psystar is staying in?" He held out his H.E.R.O. card to display that we were official H.E.R.O. agents.
"I'm sorry, she checked out."
That ticked me off. I made a tight fist, and accidentally shoved my finger claws through my palm. "Gah, damn it." I pulled them out and licked the glove until the wound sealed over. My eyes shifted back and forth when I noticed that both Lance and the receptionist were watching me. "What? You try having giant claws on your fingers."
Lance shook his head and looked back at the receptionist. "What time did she check out?"
The receptionist looked back at her computer and said, "9:32 a.m. So you just missed her."
I growled, "I can't fricking believe this."
Lance said, "She would be pretty obvious, wearing an all white costume that leaves the shoulders bare. Long gold hair. Did she leave with anyone else?"
"She did, with an F.B.I. agent. She was here under security, so he had to release her."
I asked, "What does that mean, 'under security?'"
"She was being held for something. Anyone the police or F.B.I. bring in that needs medical attention but is officially in custody is handled like that."
I growled again. I called her one more time, and again the call went directly to voice mail. "Back to the house, and that guy better have an answer this time."
Lance nodded, "I agree. Thank you, miss. You have a great day."
She smiled at him, "You too."
We went back to the car, and drove back to the kidnap victim’s house again. Even Lance was becoming irate; he kept gripping his legs during the trip. I found it interesting that his muscles felt
like steel and barely moved when I pressed on them, but when he did it they moved more like normal. Normal for a body builder, at least.
After a while Lance said, “Perhaps I should do the talking back at the house.”
“Why?”
“You’re on edge. You’re fidgeting as you drive, making little clawing motions on occasion. You’re also growling. I have a feeling that if things don’t go well you’ll attack someone, and we don’t need that.”
I growled. He’s right, though I don’t have to like it. “All right, fine. They better cough up some answers, though.”
We arrived back at the kidnap victim’s house. Hmm, kidnappers. Once we find Steph, we can help take them out. We walked back up to the house, Agent Dunsworth came outside to meet us before we reached the doorway. He looked worried.
Lance said, "We meet again, Agent Dunsworth. I hope this time you'll be a little more forthcoming."
Agent Dunsworth adjusted his tie and said, "Listen, Psystar still isn't here."
"We're aware of that. Which agent checked her out of the hospital, and what is his phone number?"
"What? I didn't even know that she was out."
"Why was she brought there? You know more than you are saying."
"Let me make a call, see if I can get an answer."
"You're running out of time, Dunsworth. Black Tiger's already pacing his cage; this whole situation looks rather dubious. Luring a H.E.R.O. agent down here. Doing something to her; hospitalizing her with F.B.I. lockdown on release. Lying or concealing information from other federal agents looking into her missing whereabouts. Whatever you're involved in, it needs to get cleared up pretty darn soon. Make your call, but get an answer on where she's at."
Agent Dunsworth opened his mouth, closed it, turned and walked away. He pulled out his cell phone and made a call as he walked away. Lance turned and looked at me. He was about to say something, but I held up my hand to stop him. I cocked my head slightly and listened to Dunsworth's phone ring. Enhanced hearing had its uses.
A man picked up on the other end, "Willman."
"Joseph, it's Roger. I've got a couple of metas here looking for Psystar. They know she was in the hospital. How did she get out?"
"I released her. Dimmer caused her to do that psychic scream when he dragged her away from the perp. We're still at the hospital, the hero's doing her mind thing on the perp now."
"So what's the status on the meta then?"
"She's back to helping us again."
"What do you want me to tell these two metas? They're getting pissed off at me. One of them looks like he'd like to tear my heart out or something. Man, he's got these evil looking cat eyes. I just sent them to the hospital, they just got back here after finding out that you'd checked Psystar out."
"Put one of them on the phone, I'll talk to them."
"Sounds good." He walked over to us and held out the phone. "Agent Willman's on the phone, he's in charge of the kidnapping investigation."
Lance began reaching for the phone, I reached faster. I'd noticed I was far faster than Lance when I wanted to be. I said, "Black Tiger here. I'm the one with the evil cat eyes." I smiled at Dunsworth, making sure my fangs showed.
"Agent Willman here. Black Tiger, I'm with Psystar now at the hospital. We're currently with one of the kidnappers."
"Put her on."
"One moment." I heard him in the background saying, "Psystar. Hey, Psystar, come out of it. Black Tiger's on the phone. Shit."
"Black Tiger, she's not responding. She's doing her mind thing. Right now she's just staring off into space and her eyes are glowing. I tried shaking her shoulder, but she's not responding."
"That normally only takes her a few minutes."
"She only started a minute or so ago."
"Assuming she's doing that, and comes out of it in a minute or so. She'll either be fine, or fall unconscious for a few more minutes, roughly. I've only seen her do it once to someone, she was out for only a few minutes that time."
"All right. Should I have her call you back when she snaps out of it?"
"If she's awake, have her call me within fifteen minutes, otherwise you call me in that time frame. If not I'll assume this is another ruse, and that Dunsworth here is involved in it."
He huffed on the other side of the phone. "Christ. Listen, I just finished talking with her about this. Let's not start up any interagency squabbling, all right? It won't help either side, and I'm assuming that we're both trying to accomplish the same thing."
"I'll assume that everything is as you say it is. Just call back in fifteen." I gave my H.E.R.O. phone number to Agent Willman and handed the cell phone back to Agent Dunsworth. He checked for a signal and closed the phone.
"Satisfied, Black Tiger?"
"Not yet. I'll assume everything is the way it should be. What's the latest on the kidnapping case? We're here; we can handle the raid on the kidnappers for you once Psystar gets the details. We won't have to worry about getting hurt."
"Psystar made the same type of comment before she went to apprehend the kidnapper she's with. I heard she got shot up pretty badly. Besides, it’s not so much you getting hurt that’s the problem. It’s the victims getting injured during a fight."
That shocked me. "That's odd, she's not a fighter."
He shrugged. "I don't know much more than that. I wasn't at the scene. I take it you guys are combatants?"
"Pretty much. One would think the claws, and Spartan's giant size would make that obvious. I’m not concerned about being shot too much. Spartan here could probably laugh off a machine gun, perhaps even a sniper rifle or rocket launcher. Hey, Spartan, we need to test that on you."
"One can't be sure of anything with a meta you're meeting for the first time, I’ve heard that even some small women like Psystar could be armored."
I nodded my agreement at that. Even among mutants there was a great variety in strength, speed, and potential off abilities. Like that Shrinker mutant that was still on the loose. At first glance you would think she was a normal mutant, but she could also reduce a person down to action figure size. Stephanie was shrunk down the last time our groups met. I should check on that metal super lady that changed the other day.
Spartan said, “Not sure where we’d be able to buy that stuff. Too bad we don’t have any military contacts; I could give them a moving target to practice on. In return I’d get to see what live fire feels like.”
I replied, “Actually, the Metrocity S.W.A.T. team probably has all but the rocket launcher, they might be willing to try it.”
“Good idea. You going to be out on the range with me?”
I laughed, “Yeah, right. Hell no.”
“Hmm, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. The S.W.A.T. team goes into a lot of dangerous situations. I could see us getting involved with them many times in the future. I’d like to be on good terms with them.”
Agent Dunsworth said, “You guys always jump into other agencies busts for an extra payday?”
Spartan cocked his head to the side as he said, “Do you honestly believe that’s why I do this?” His expression was harder than normal to read without being able to clearly see the eyes and eyebrows.
“You get a commission for each bust, right? Plus an awful lot of news time.”
“True, we do get a commission, but I’d help with the kidnapping thing without getting one. My motivation is to save people, and prevent others from getting injured.”
“I have difficulty believing that. I’ve seen enough heroes to see how they act.”
“It might be how they were brought up. Most supers seem to be randomly selected for being ‘activated’ with powers. Take any random Joe on the street, and check out his personality profile. I was raised with the idea of being a hero.”
“How could you be raised in the hopes of something extremely rare happening to you? That sounds suspicious.”
I said, “Our parents were supers. I’m pretty sure one of them knew a long time ago it would happen, got us together as children, and put us under the care of the two parents that had a hero mindset the most. Psystar’s father made sure we were at the right place to be transformed.”
Spartan looked at me. “You think he’s a psychic too?”
“I’m positive. In fact, now that I think about it, you notice how he always sent Ste … Psystar over to your mom’s with extra things that she just happened to need later on? I mean, there were times I didn’t have stuff with me when I hung out at your place, but Psystar never had that happen.”
Spartan looked thoughtful; he scratched his chin as he seemed to go through memories. “Dang. You’re right. I can’t think of a single time he hadn’t sent her over with everything that she needed.”
Agent Dunsworth said, “So … you guys both have parents that are supers too?”
I said, “Right.”
“Wow. What was that like? Were they H.E.R.O. agents too?”
“My father was. I have no idea what Psystar’s father did, but he was gone a lot. I mean, almost weekly he’d be gone for days. My father was gone a lot too, but mostly in the evening or at night, not for days. Needless to say, I found I couldn’t pull much over on the old man. Now I know that he had enhanced vision, hearing, possibly smell, taste and touch as well, like I do.”
Spartan said, “My mom’s great, she’s a brick as well, but not a hero. Well, not an agent at least. I know she’s saved a few construction workers before that got into situations on the site.”
Agent Dunsworth asked, “She ever spank you?’
Spartan laughed, “Heck no. She’d probably have broken my bones if she did. She’s one of the calmest people I know.”
I said, “My dad didn’t need to hit me. He had this … aura about him. When he got mad, I knew he was mad. Just seeing him look at me while angry was enough to put fear into me.”
Agent Dunsworth said, “I can’t imagine having you as a father. I mean, who needs a monster under the bed? You look pretty intimidating all on your own.”
“Actually, since a kid would grow up seeing me this way, they ought to be used to it. It’d be the norm for them. If anything, what would any child of mine have to fear from a monster under the bed? Dad could whoop it up on the monster.”
Dunsworth laughed. “You’re right, I guess.”
My phone rang. I answered, “Black Tiger.”
The voice said, “Hey, Tiger. It’s me.” I let out a breath, and felt my shoulders relax just hearing her voice. I couldn’t believe how glad I was just to hear Stephanie’s voice. Dunsworth’s eyes flicking toward my fingers made me realize my claws had receded.
“I’m glad to hear from you. Everything okay?”
“It is now. I’ve got a location, and some names that Agent Willman will look into. We can handle the grunt work while they handle the intel activities.”
“Kick ass. We’re at the kidnap victim’s house, want to meet us here?”
“Sure, I’ll be there in a minute or two.” I heard her ask someone else, “Are you headed back to the house, or to your office?”
I heard Agent Willman answer Stephanie in the background. “My office is in Metrocity. I’ll make some calls here, and then head over to the location you found with some other agents.”
“Sounds good. You there, Tiger? I’ll be there in a few.”
“Yeah, still here. See you when you get here.”
“Okay, see you soon.” She hung up.
Hmph, the agents didn’t lie after all. Which means I was being an asshole to this guy, I suppose. I decided to suck up my pride and make good with the agent. “Agent Dunsworth?”
Agent Dunsworth looked eager for any news. “Yeah?”
“I, uhh, I’m sorry for getting on your case earlier. Psystar’s on her way here, Agent Willman’s going to meet us at the kidnappers location.”
He looked surprised. “Well ... sure thing. It could have gone better, I suppose.”
I asked, “Do they have a photograph of the victim here?”
“Yeah, come in.” He led the way into the house. Once inside, he introduced us to Mr. and Mrs. Lieberman. He explained to them, “Spartan and Black Tiger will be working with us on the extraction of your daughter.” We shook hands with them. Mr. Lieberman appeared very impressed by Lance’s size.
I caught movement outside the window, and saw Stephanie standing up from a crouched position on the lawn. I see you, babe!
She glanced quickly at the window and grinned at me, and then walked to the front door.
I slapped Spartan’s chest with the back of my hand. “She’s here. Let’s go kick some kidnapper ass.” We met her outside.
She hugged me and said, “What an awful morning so far.”
I wonder what the feds avoided telling us?
She held up her hand. “I’ll tell you later. It’ll just make you mad.”
She stepped back after the hug, and I noticed that her costume had traces of red mixed in with it. There was a faint smell of blood around her, almost overwhelmed by her natural fragrance.
She put a hand on my chest and said, “Later. Not now. Here’s the address they brought Zena to.” She held out her H.E.R.O. phone with the address displayed. Lance and I entered it into our phones to display a map of the location. I wonder if these have any games on them….
Lance said, “I’ll meet you guys there.” He turned, scanned the street and leaped away.
I watched after him and joked, “Ribbit!”
Stephanie grinned again as she slid her arm around my waist. She winked at me as she gave me a squeeze. I followed suit on her, and then watched her leg as she appeared to step up onto some kind of invisible step and pushed off. We floated up into the air. We coasted upwards slowly for a minute while she looked at her H.E.R.O. phone for the direction to fly.
We flew over a suburban business district for a few minutes before hovering over a building near a defunct oil change business.
She pointed, “That’s where they’re at. As soon as Spartan shows we can hit it.”
I asked, “How many kidnappers are there?”
“There ought to be four in there. The other guy was supposed to pick up some food and such before they left for Metrocity. He had the van.”
“Metrocity? This wasn’t a kidnapping for money from the parents?”
“I don’t know. The guy I mind read wasn’t the leader. He just knew they were heading back to Metrocity.”
Why would they want to go back to Metrocity? They had to have had other plans for the girl in that case. She’s only thirteen or so, not old enough to be considered for some kind of bride for sale. Maybe some kind of sick organ thieves?
Stephanie looked quickly up at my face. Oops, sorry. Was just thinking to myself, forgot about your overhearing thing.
She squeezed my arm and said, “No need. It’s not your fault to think about the possibilities, nor that I can hear them. You wouldn’t believe the thoughts – or looks – I see from some people.”
I spotted a flash of color in the sky and pointed Lance out to her. She flew us down toward a large building top to meet him.
Preview Chapter 5 – Rescue
Third Person Perspective